Page 94 of The Broken Keys

“Some big SUV drove into her at an intersection.” I glance away, wanting to hide the facts from him but he might be able to help. “I don’t think it was an accident.”

“Of course it wasn’t. The guy drove off and left her to die.” His frantic tone has me turning back to him.

“Wait. I never told you he left the scene.” I narrow my gaze. “Now that I think about it, how did you know she was even in an accident?”

He slides his hands into his pockets and doesn’t say a word.

I step closer to Jaxon, my pulse swooshing through my ears. “I never told you the driver left the scene, so how the fuck do you know what happened?”

He broadens his shoulders and doesn’t answer right away. That tells me everything I need to know.

“You have someone watching her.” The realization hits me like a freight train. “You have security on her, don’t you?”

“Cash—”

“Don’t lie to me right now.” My voice rises, and I don’t care who hears. “You’ve been following her. That’s how you knew about the crash. That’s how you got here so fast.”

He runs his hand over his perfectly trimmed beard, exhaustion bleeding through his controlled exterior. “Yes, I have a security team that monitors situations when necessary.”

“Situations?” I bark out a bitter laugh. “You mean you’ve been stalking her.”

“I’ve been keeping her safe.” His tone sharpens.

“Have you? Because from where I’m standing it looks like she’s in a lot more danger than I thought she was.” I curl my hands into fists at my sides. “Does she know you have people watching her?”

“No.”

“Of course she doesn’t.” I trek away from him, then spin back. “How long have you had surveillance on her?”

“That’s not your concern.”

“The hell it isn’t! The woman I love is being spied on by you so you can control some outcome you wanna orchestrate.” I step into his space, forcing him to either back down or stand his ground. “Answer the question, Jaxon. How long?”

He holds my stare, unflinching. “Since last night.”

“Last night.” I process that timeline. “Right after you saw us together in the hallway.”

“Not right after.” He growls low under his breath. “She called me in the middle of the night saying she wasn’t…doing well. I knew she was with you and thought it would be best if I kept my distance.”

“Right. I’m supposed to believe Jaxon Crowne would just step aside and let me have the woman he’s been seeing for over two fucking years.”

“Believe what you want, Cash.”

“I think you put security on her because you were jealous.” That would be funny if it weren’t so fucked up. “The great Jaxon Crowne, billionaire venture capitalist, so insecure about losing his girlfriend that he has to have her followed.”

“It wasn’t about jealousy.” His voice drops to something dangerous. “It was about keeping her alive.”

That stops me cold. “What do you mean by that?”

“It means there are people who would use her to get to me. My world is more dangerous than you could possibly understand. I’ve spent over two years keeping her safe from threats you don’t even know exist.”

“What kind of threats?”

“The kind that gets people killed.” He turns away, gazing out the window at the parking lot. “The kind that made me give her that house so she’d have somewhere secure. The kind that made me push her away when I should have been fighting for her.”

My anger shifts to something closer to unease. “Are you saying someone targeted her? That the accident wasn’t random and you know who did it?”

“I don’t know yet.” He faces me again. “But a black SUV with no license plates, hitting her, and fleeing the scene? That doesn’t seem like a coincidence.”